Honeygrow

Honeygrow finally opens in Hoboken, NJ

Well over a year after Honeygrow announced their intent to open at 120 Washington Street – they finally unlocked the doors and became ready for business.

The slick establishment with touch-screen ordering, a “feel good” premise and a heavy social media presence is drawing huge crowds of millennials for what could be the advent of how “fast food” will look for the next 10-20 years.

It’s quite possible that the McDonald’s just up the road will be the next “doomed” business. Who knows.

We’ll see how long Honeygrow can “ride the wave” until the next generational trend takes over.

“Born in Philadelphia in 2012, honeygrow aims to bring people together over quality, wholesome, and simple foods. To us, the easy road is boring: you won’t find a freezer in use here. Nor will you question the origins of your stir-fry, salad, smoothie, and honeybar treat. It’s about eating honestly and spending time doing what matters: from visiting the farms where our ingredients are grown and harvested to whipping up sauces and dressings in-house; we’re just passionate people that connect over food authenticity and creativity.”

Honeygrow all sounds so good, is there a catch?

When the Hoboken Honeygrow location opens, it’ll be their fifth location in just about two years. And they look like they have all the right “buzzwords” in their widespread marketing message. Almost too many in fact! It seems to be more about “euphoric feelings,” rather than just good food. But then again, the father of propaganda (Eddie Bernays) figured that out a long time ago. You don’t sell a product, you sell an emotional trigger.

But the prices seem quite fair for “farm to fork” food. And who can argue with this business if the product truly is of exceptional quality? Why do we even dare to ponder these thoughts?

Well, for one – honeygrow is most certainly expanding at break-neck speed. And regardless of the “wholesome” nature of the business model, they still employ low-wage hourly workers following recipes created by someone else. No real “head chef” or owner connected to each and every meal that they dish out with blistering efficiency. I guess we feel, despite the apparent “freshness” of the products that the “chain” model and assembly line ordering process kind of waters down that “earthy” concept just a wee bit.

In the end, it truly is better than McDonald’s, and perhaps this is how “fast food” should be going forward? Commoditized or not, it beats eating processed garbage any day of the week.

Food for the app generation. I tried it. Felt ripped off really. A hot pocket is a better value despite the health consequences. But they’ll do fine. Place was buzzing with people taking pictures of their food. What happened to just eating for the sake of nutrition? I’ll stick to Biancamano’s for my meals, thank you very much.

I don’t know…they seem to be preaching wholesome food, but that is not necessarily anything new these days. I’ll have to check it out to know if I get the “wholesome feel” when I see where and how the food is prepared. Food can be sourced well but at the end of the day, to me, I’d rather that the place is clean and workers follow all the guidelines and care about the product.

Thanks Sassy Lassie! We here at honeygrow pride ourselves in serving the highest quality foods. Sourced as locally as possible, and like you mentioned, prepared and served with as much care as possible. All of our dressings and sauces are made in-house daily. Our staff relentlessly trained to the highest culinary standards.

We have no freezers at any of our stores. We are not a franchise; we own and operate all of our stores to ensure the best quality and most consistency possible.

We are excited to be a part of the Hoboken community and to bring tasty, vibrant, delicious food to everyone there![quote comment=”223826″]I don’t know…they seem to be preaching wholesome food, but that is not necessarily anything new these days. I’ll have to check it out to know if I get the “wholesome feel” when I see where and how the food is prepared. Food can be sourced well but at the end of the day, to me, I’d rather that the place is clean and workers follow all the guidelines and care about the product.[/quote]